The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You will have to register before you can post or view full size images in the forums.

I did a bit more than skim, but haven't tried it yet. I think I will, this is very thorough and clear. I really do like the way you do the ocean layer, I may incorporate that into the style i'm already using

I got lost on page three. D: We go from working on the paint layer to deleting the Threshold layer and selecting Alpha one? How did we get there? I'm pretty confused. Sorry if this sounds stupid, but the instructions are pretty hard to follow right around that point, starting out at least.

Wow. That's at least the nicest-looking tutorial I have ever seen. Given your amazing results with Saderan I will certainly be giving this a try when I get some spare time. Repped if possible [edit]Yeah, guess not. I'll be back![/edit].
M

So i tested it out.
Not too bad, the only parts I found tedious was setting up the layer styles but that's no reflection on you - i always find that to be my least favourite part

I did follow all the steps exactly, the only thing I deviated on was leaving the snow layer off the final product as it seemed to wash out the forest/ground layers a bit much for my liking. I used a few different workflow paths here and there - instead of always using the menu commands once I saw what it was that was being done I might use shortcut keys for example, and i did use my tablet so i skipped the steps for the pen tool to make the rivers - but that's something I became adept at before I got my tablet, so no guilt there but I did learn a few new masking tricks i hadn't used before, so yay!

All in all this was quite fun to play with, and the final product is very nice.